Happy Michaelmas! What is Michaelmas you ask? It’s an ancient harvest celebration that was an official holiday in Sweden until 1772. It marked the end of harvest, when the laborers’ wages would be paid and they would be given up to a week off. The nights and days following were considered magical. A young lady might see a vision of the man she would marry and vice versa.
Like Santa Lucia, it’s a Christian saints’ holiday and Kirsten would have most likely celebrated this festival so she’s helping me make dragon bread! The dragon represents the challenges in our lives and our own foibles to be tamed…or in this case eaten if you have a gluten sensitivity.
This is the cut hair silver eyed Kirsten that I found last week. She’s enjoying some baking before her trip to the doll hospital.
Each ingredient in the bread represents some aspect of the story; the yeast is the dragon’s frothing fury and the flour is the plentiful harvest.
Of course, we had to make a doll sized dragon too! (This was the second rising part of the process, but gluten free flour doesn’t rise quite like gluten full).
My husband walked in and teased, “I see you have a tiny supervisor.” “Thank goodness,” I replied.
First of all, I’m sorry for the delay. Secondly, I know this doesn’t really look like a dragon, but I tried. And here’s the result. I actually had a recipe blog before I created this one where I mostly posted all different kinds of bread sculptures, but this is the first time I made a dragon, so yeah... But I tried, I really did.
I decied to name it Vanilla Porrelth Hungry the Third.
Recipe and description under the cut.
Dough:
50 g active yeast
1,5 dl (0,5 cups) rapeseed oil
5 dl (2 cups) milk (I used rice milk to give the bread a lighter texture)
A pinch of salt
2 tesp vanilla sugar
1 dl (0,4 cups) caster sugar
About 14-15 dl (6 - 6,5 cups) flour
Filling:
100 g soft butter or margarine
1 dl (0,4 cups) caster sugar
3 tesp vanilla sugar or the seeds from one vanilla pod
Start by making the dough. Crumb the yeast in a bowl, mix with the oil and milk untill the yeast has dissolved. Add salt, sugar, vanilla and gradually add the flour untill combined to a smooth dough. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and leave to ferment for about 1 - 1,5 hours, untill the dough has doubled in size.
I know in similar recipes, people heat the liquid before mixing with yeast, but I always use cold, since it develops more flavour that way. But of course, that means the dough has to ferment for longer. But in my opinion, it’s worth it.
When fermented, dust a clean surface with flour and move the fermented dough there. Cut away about a quarter of the dough to make the feet and head and set aside. Roll the rest of the dough flat with a rolling pin dusted with flour.
Mix the butter, sugar and vanilla to a smooth paste for the filling, and spread over the sheet of dough, like on the picture below.
Then, roll the edge over and fold it over, like a chelsea roll or cinnamon bun untill you have a roll. I don’t really know how to explain this better, and I apologize if I don’t make sense, but just roll untill you have a roll. When you have a tight roll, CAREFULLY move it to a baking tray dressed with baking paper. Roll a head and four little feet out of the rest of the dough you saved from earlier, like on the picture under.
Starting to look like something, eh? Well, now comes the fun part. With the help of a sharp pair of scissors, cut the spike pattern on top of the dragon.
Then do the same with the head and use a knife to cut the feet into toes. I also cut a mouth with the help of a sharp, small knife. For the eyes on Vanilla Porrelth Hungry the Third, I used dried kidney beans.
Let your dragon ferment for another 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat an oven to 175 ºC (350 ºF) When fermented, throw it into the oven.
There’a Vanilla Porrelth Hungry the Third, just chilling in the oven, getting nice and baked. After about 30 minutes, I covered my dragon with some aluminum foil, because the spikes were starting to burn.
Bake for a total of 45-50 minutes.
And after that, it’s all done! Let it cool down before serving, and enjoy!
Celebrated Michaelmas here today.. we stirred and sprayed prep 500-horn manure, baked Michaelmas Dragon Bread and buns in the cob oven, watched the eurythmy performance in the Auditorium and listened to the Michaelmas story of the knight and the dragon. It was a hot day, didn't feel like fall at all but it's starting to look like it! Brilliant reds, oranges and yellows aglow in the trees! Tomorrow will be more Michaelmas festivities at the Fellowship. This is all bringing me straight back to my childhood when I grew up right here in this community. What a magical time of year.
September 22nd marked the first day of fall. Many countries around the world celebrate the fall equinox; let’s look at how this second harvest is being honored by a few of these countries below.
Defining the fall equinox:
During both the vernal and autumnal equinox, day and night are balanced to nearly 12 hours each all over the world.
Instead of a tilt away from or toward the sun, the…
